Boston Massachusetts Information -
Boston Famous People

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) was born in Lowell, Massachusetts as "Jean-Louis Kerouac". He was born to a working-class French-Canadian family and grew up speaking more French than English.

Jack met up with like-minded souls in Columbia University and together they began writing stream of consciousness stories about their wild lives. He became quite popular, most notably for his story "On The Road".

Jack's group of writers was called the Beat Generation, a name he coined. To him it meant that the status quo and traditions of America were boring and restrictive - he and his group wanted to do things that were unusual, study Eastern religions, drink, listen to jazz, and be cool.